Sink overflow

ABSTRACT

An overflow for a molded plastic sink is formed of a molded plastic body having a smooth, hollow interior forming a watertight passageway. The lower region of the body has a through opening surrounding the main drain over an opening in the drain and is sealed to the sink and the drain, the upper region of the body is sealed to the sink around an overflow opening extending through the sink and into the body. The mid region of the body is spaced from the underside of the sink.

United States Patent [1 1 Van Manen et al.

[ 1 Jan. 14, 1975 SINK OVERFLOW [75] Inventors: Dick T. Van Manen, Canandaigua;

Ronald D. Buckley, Geneva, both of [73] Assignee: Voplex Corporation, Rochester,

[22] Filed: June 21, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 372,243

[52] U.S. Cl 4/187 R, 4/206, D23/58 [51] Int. Cl. E03e 1/24 [58] Field of Search 4/166-170,

4/187 R, 189, 198, 206, 199-202; 156/242 X, 245; D23/54, 55, 58-64 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 260,371 7/1882 Connolly 4/170 2,448,798 9/1948 l-laberstump 4/170 2,695,256 11/1954 De Olloqui et al. 156/245 3,490,973 1/1970 Graff et al. 156/242 3,577,572 5/1971 Ruggles 3,593,347 7/l97l Nemiroff D2l7,967 7/1970 Korol D23/58 Primary Examiner-John W. HucIkert Assistant Examiner-Stuart S. Levy Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Compston, Shaw & Stephens [57] ABSTRACT An overflow for a molded plastic sink is formed of a molded plastic body having a smooth, hollow interior forming a watertight passageway. The lower region of the body has a through opening surrounding the main drain over an opening in the drain and is sealed to the sink and the drain, the upper region of the body is sealed to the sink around an overflow opening extending through the sink and into the body. The mid region of the body is spaced from the underside of the sink.

3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures SINK OVERFLOW THE INVENTIVE IMPROVEMENT Vacuum formed sinks made of acrylic plastic have many advantages, but to withstand heavy blows'they are customarily reinforced on their underside with re sin-bonded glass fibers and strips of wood. The overflow for such sinks has been a three-sided plastic piece laid over the resin bonded glass fibers and secured in place with resin or other material to form a passageway from the upper region of the sink to the main drain. Because of dimensional inaccuracies and the roughness of the reinforcing on the underside of the sink, it has been difficult to secure a leak proof overflow. Also, the overflow fouls from moisture and bacteria colonies collecting on the rough surfaces underneath the sink.

The invention involves recognition of these problems and proposes a new overflow cooperating with a molded plastic sink to ensure a leakproof, smoothwalled overflow passageway. The invention aims at simplicity, economy, and ease of installation both in the factory and in the field for a leakproof, non-fouling sink overflow.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The inventive overflow for a molded plastic sink includes a rigid, single piece, molded plastic body having a hollow interior that is closed and smooth surfaced to form a watertight passageway. The lower region of the body has a through opening closely surrounding the main drain of the sink with the upper surface of the lower region of the body sealed to the underside of the sink around the main drain and the lower surface of the lower region of the body sealed to the main drain. The main drain has an opening communicating with the passageway in the body between the upper and lower surfaces of the lower region of the body. The sink and the upper region of the body have a registered overflow drain opening extending through the sink and through the adjacent surface of the upper region of the body into the passageway in the body, and the upper region of the body is sealed to the sink in a region surrounding the overflow opening. The mid region of the body is spaced from the underside of the sink.

DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a preferred enibodiment of the inventive overflow applied to a sink;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of an alternative preferred embodiment of the lower region of the inventive overflow; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the overflow of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Theinventive overflow as shown in the drawings is applied to a sink 11 that is molded of a plastic material such as acrylic. The underside of sink 11 is reinforced with resin-bonded glass fibers so that sink 11 can resist heavy blows. Overflow 10 extends from an overflow drain opening 13 in the upper region of sink 11 down to the main drain 14 which has an opening 15 underneath sink ll.

Overflow 10 is molded of plastic material in a rigid, single piece hollow body such as illustrated, and overflow 10 is preferably blow-molded, clam shell vacuum formed, or rotationally molded. The overflow 10 shown in FIG. 3 is blow molded of plastic material and has a sprue opening 16 in the center of the lower region of overflow 10 where a through opening 17 is later drilled all the way through overflow 10 to receive and closely surround main drain 14. Openings 18 are drilled in the upper region of overflow 10 to register with overflow drain openings 13 through the wall of sink 11. Openings 13 and 18 are preferably drilled at the same time at the factory but if overflow 10 is installed in the field, openings 18 are drilled through previously formed openings 13.

Overflow 10 is secured to sink 11 in two regions around main drain l4 and drain overflow openings 13, and the mid region 19 of overflow I0 is spaced from the underside of sink 11. Overflow 10 is then curved for generally fitting the underside of sink 11, but is not in contact with the underside of sink 11 throughout most of its length. Overflow 10 then spans across the uneven surface of resin-bonded fiberglass 12 and does not have to be sealed to sink 11 except at its upper and lower regions.

The upper surface 20 of overflow 10 is secured to the underside of sink 11 around drain opening 14 either by a bonding material 21 as shown in FIG. 1 or by an clastomeric washer 22 as shown in FIG. 2. Bonding mate rial 21 can be resin, cement, or a silicone material that provides a secure bond between resin bonded fiberglass 12 and upper surface 20.

Lower surface 23 of the lower region of overflow 10 is sealed to main drain 14, preferably by an elastomeric washer 24 and a nut 25 as shown in FIG. 2, the underside of surface 23 is preferably reinforced with resin bonded glass fibers 26 for strengthening the lower region of overflow 10 against the tightening of nut 25.

The upper region of overflow 10 is sealed around drain overflow openings 13 by bonding material 27 which also can be resin, cement, or silicone material. Pressure is preferably applied directly to the upper region of overflow 10 while bonding material 27 sets to secure a watertight seal between resin bonded fiberglass 12 and the upper region of overflow 10 around overflow drain openings 13.

In operation, any overflow from sink 11 runs through overflowdrain openings 13 and through openings 18 into the upper region of overflow 10 and flows down to the lower region of overflow l0 and out through opening 15 in main drain 14. Since the interior passageway walls in overflow 10 are smoothly formed of plastic material, they are non-fouling and do not retain water or bacteria colonies. The two-point seal to sinkll in the upper and lower regions of overflow 10 simplifies the fitting and sealing of overflow 10 to sink 11 and makes a leakproof overflow easy to achieve. Overflow I0 is simply and cheaply molded of plastic material, drilled for through opening 17 and secured to sink 11, either during factory production or field installation. The result is a cheaper and more reliable non-fouling overflow for sink 11.

Persons wishing to practice the invention should remember that other embodiments and variations can be adapted to particular circumstances. Even though one point of view is necessarily chosen in describing and defining the invention, this should not inhibit broader or related embodiments going beyond the semantic orientation of this application but falling within the spirit of the invention. For example, those skilled in the art will appreciate the materials and molding and sealing technique usable in applying the invention to various circumstances.

I claim:

1. In a molded plastic sink having a main drain and an undersurface reinforced with resin bonded glass fibers, an improved overflow comprising:

a. a rigid, single piece, molded plastic body having a hollow interior that is closed and smooth surfaced to form a watertight passageway;

b. said body having a lower region with a through opening closely surrounding said main drain for said sink;

c. said lower region of said body having an upper surface sealed to said undersurface of said sink throughout an arcuate region around said main drain by said resin bonding said glass fibers;

d. said lower region of said body having a lower surface sealed to said main drain by sealing means;

c. said main drain having an opening communicating with said passageway in said body between said upper and lower surfaces of said lower region of said body;

f. said body having an upper region with a wall adjacent said sink, and said sink and said upper region each having a registered, overflow drain opening extending through said sink and through said wall into said passageway in said body;

g. said wall of said upper region of said body being sealed to said sink by said resin bonding said glass fibers throughout a region surrounding said overflow drain opening; and

h. said body having a mid region spaced from said undersurface of said sink.

2. The overflow of claim 1 wherein said mid region of said body is generally rectangular in cross section.

3. The overflow of claim 1 wherein said lower surface of said lower region of said body is reinforced with resin-bonded glass fibers. 

1. In a molded plastic sink having a main drain and an undersurface reinforced with resin bonded glass fibers, an improved overflow comprising: a. a rigid, single piece, molded plastic boDy having a hollow interior that is closed and smooth surfaced to form a watertight passageway; b. said body having a lower region with a through opening closely surrounding said main drain for said sink; c. said lower region of said body having an upper surface sealed to said undersurface of said sink throughout an arcuate region around said main drain by said resin bonding said glass fibers; d. said lower region of said body having a lower surface sealed to said main drain by sealing means; e. said main drain having an opening communicating with said passageway in said body between said upper and lower surfaces of said lower region of said body; f. said body having an upper region with a wall adjacent said sink, and said sink and said upper region each having a registered, overflow drain opening extending through said sink and through said wall into said passageway in said body; g. said wall of said upper region of said body being sealed to said sink by said resin bonding said glass fibers throughout a region surrounding said overflow drain opening; and h. said body having a mid region spaced from said undersurface of said sink.
 2. The overflow of claim 1 wherein said mid region of said body is generally rectangular in cross section.
 3. The overflow of claim 1 wherein said lower surface of said lower region of said body is reinforced with resin-bonded glass fibers. 